My 70' K5 Blazer build up

[dorton]

Drove it to work on Saturday. Got it up in the air, changed all the fluids, adjusted timing, and just checked it over really well.

Here is why I have decided to breathe new life into this old ride.

I work as a Service Manager for a Toyota store. A few months back, I was fortunate enough to strike up a conversation with a customer that's a member on here (mtnbike28) who has a very nicely rigged Toyota Tacoma. During this time, he told me he and his daughter spend a decent amount of time exploring this fine country of ours. They spend their summer breaks exploring the west. That sounded like a marvelous idea.
Since that time, I've been thinking about picking up an FJ Cruiser, or 4runner and doing something very similar to what he has, then it hit me...
For the payments i'd have every month on a new/used vehicle purchase, that would go a long way towards fixing up this old Blazer, plus the old ride gets extra points for being different.

Some of my fondest memories as a kid are exploring in the old pickup my dad had, and camping in new places. I want her to have those same experiences.

Thats where I am now.

Here are some non camera phone photos of the Blazer as it sits today.

I plan on adding some rock sliders for protection, and ease of entry like these.

I found some rust that I dont remember being on there, but it will be fixed hopefully in the following weeks here is a cell phone pic

After the repair of that, and an old fiberglass repair patch on the left rear corner(The blazer was once a sheriff's vehicle, and had the CB antenna whip bolted to the quarter panel), I am cosidering doing a color change on it. I'm thinking about the body being Toyota FJ Cruiser Army Green With black top, and Black steelies, with different rolling stock.

The seats are in great condition, but i'd like a more modern seat, and more support

The radio is a $25.00 FleaMarket special, so it will go away along with the junk speakers.

I don't like the rear bumper, but It may work well for a planned swing-out tire carrier/gas can rack

I will start calling about disc brake setup tomorrow

I am going to call a local scrap yard that is listing a few 6.0s, and some 8.1s about a possible heart transplant.

It has been driven about 300 miles since it left that dark garage on friday night with no problems what soever.

 

[1leglance]

I really like the mini-van seats in mine...
Our flat floors means it is easy to swap in anything you want. Some guys have had great luck with modern chevy truck seats that have the intergrated seat belts.

Not to argue your paint choice....buy dark green on a blazer just looks to military for me...too many military chevy rigs around over the years....now a forest green yeah.
Of course I am partial to the blues, reds and yellows and I really like the 2 tones on the old chevy's but not sure on the Blazers. Great thing about the 67-72 site is you can find a pic of just about any color choice you are thinking.

I hear ya on the rear bumper....I am currently working out how to do a swingout and keep a retro look on by burb.

 

[chilliwak]

Dorton, that truck looks absolutely fantastic!:Wow1: Since the truck is in such good shape you might want to consider keeping it as stock as you can. Does it have matching numbers? (original engine) If so it is worth WAY MORE if you DONT remove the motor. Whatever you do keep the old motor kicking around if you choose to sell it. Keep us posted with LOTS OF PICS! Nice truck and once again welcome to the forum. If you do want to go with a military colour you could try this.....

 

[Cody1771]

yeah i had Van seats in my K10, LOVED them, super comfy, the double arm rests made long distance cruising comfortable and they where just plain comfy, oh wait... did i say that twice? heh...

as far as sliders go that is tricky with these old chevs... the body dropps quite far down the rail and you wont have much luck installing any that arnt on a tree snagging angle without a 2" body lift. and i have yet to find any that are pre built, all the ones ive seen have been custom jobs.

there are lots of options for bumpers though, i wish i could access overlandcanada.com right now to get on my build thread... i had found a swing out bumper for about $600 that was very cool and offered rear corner protection.

if you want to keep the 6 bolt hubs, try to find a Semi Floating 14 bolt out of a early 90's "heavy half" they will be disk ready and a bolt in upgrade.

go to LMCtruck.com and order the appropriate cataloge for your truck, for OEM replacement stuff it is your best bet and you can basically build a truck from that website.

as for color, im biased to blue heres my lost baby

IMO get a steering box brace asap. will save you a hell of a lot of problems... you can get that from ORD when you order your shackle reversal kit for the lift heh

oh yeah here is a link to my K10 build thread, TONS of research on that thread, sold the truck but left the thread up, to much info to goto waste there.

 

[jim65wagon]

my 2 cents worth,I would:
1)Keep the Chevy V8.....if the 307 goes down, replace it with a 350, or even a stroker smallblock of whatever cubic inch you want.
2)Fuel inject it when funds are available
3)When the 3spd auto dies, replace with a newer overdrive unit like a 700R4
4)Patch the holes but repaint it as it sits.....it's a beautiful ride right now!
5)Rockslide it
,
In the meantime, drive,explore, and enjoy. That is one sweet Blazer!

 

[Calplaya]

If your serious about doing some real off roading away from civilization, I would highly recommend sticking with a carbed engine. You will never need to worry about a computer, you will have ease of repair in the field, you wont need a laptop with you and other diagnostic equipment to operate on it, and they just look mean and sound way too nice! I understand your concern about higher elevation affecting it, but I think you might be surprised how well a carbed engine can do in areas like that with a little re-tuning. Plus it keeps it in its era. I very much like the idea of of the 350 you can get, plus, if later you REALLY want to go with some sort of injection system, you could model it after the late 80s injection, still pretty simple, dosnt require a degree in rocket science to work with, and id imagine pretty easy to hook up to an older 350.

NOW, about what I would do to it, if it has 33 inch tires on it already, keep them, but if not, step up to at least those if not 35s. and if its not lifted, I would seriously consider a 4 inch suspension lift (Im pretty sure you can get a cheap set up for your rig from roughcountry.com.) Also, if you havnt already, go to the part of this forum thats titled storage solutions. theres a thread in there entitled "post up your drawer/storage system." I would build something like what those guys do in the back, as a matter of fact il be tackling that same project in my burban here pretty quickly, but even if you dont build drawers to slide in and out, you can easily fit a couple shallower plastic totes underneath it full of stuff (survival/camping stuff, maybe spare parts for your engine etc, maybe a tent and of course tools) and then you wont have to fight with them when you try to throw in other stuff in the back since youl have a flat level platform to throw misc. stuff on.

OH! and I love the color combo it has now, and would rather see it stay that color instead of the green your talking about. Thats just me tho haha. If you like the green more, by all means go for it, but thats just my 2 cents haha

otherwise, I guess all thats left to say is that I love your Blazer haha! good luck with whatever you decide to do with it! and remember, keep posting up plenty of pics! We love pics, its an addiction lol

 

[Cody1771]

Im pretty sure you can get a cheap set up for your rig from roughcountry.com

i would really avoid this if you can, rough country uses 4" blocks in the rear, blocks that tall is a good way to do damage, consider getting the front leafs and shocks from them but go with the 4" shackle flip from ORD, you will not regret it and makes them ride like a dream.

 

[Calplaya]

i would really avoid this if you can, rough country uses 4" blocks in the rear, blocks that tall is a good way to do damage, consider getting the front leafs and shocks from them but go with the 4" shackle flip from ORD, you will not regret it and makes them ride like a dream.

They have that as an option, yes, but for like another 100 bucks or so depending on the application (thats how much it would cost for me with my Burban) you can upgrade those blocks to actual leaf springs.

 

[98dango]

I would still nit use ther rear leafs. 4" front spring and a flip in the back will get you more than replacement rear springs any day and 2x hauling around a fat azz burb. The ultmate set up is 54" springs swaped up front and a flip out back. There is a lot to go with this but the ultmate set up for ride and flex along with weight carring.

 

[redthies]

Ok! Everybody just STOP! I love a swap, lift, paint as much as the next guy, but there is nothing wrong with this Blazer as is. Fix the rust, make it reliable (if it isn't now), and then LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!! If new paint is needed, what is the original color? This Blazer is a CLASSIC. It will go 99% of places one needs for "ExPo" use as is. The Dunlop ATs are fine unless you want to build a mud bogger. I was all over the swap this and swap that bandwagon until I saw the pics of the thing as it sits. It is fine as it is. Don't molest it!






Damn fine rant, no??? Dorton, keep it simple, Please! And for the love of god, don't buy an FJ Crapper!

 

[Calplaya]

I would still nit use ther rear leafs. 4" front spring and a flip in the back will get you more than replacement rear springs any day and 2x hauling around a fat azz burb. The ultmate set up is 54" springs swaped up front and a flip out back. There is a lot to go with this but the ultmate set up for ride and flex along with weight carring.

arnt the V2500 Burban rear leaf springs 56"?

 

[chilliwak]

Any updates Dorton?

 

[Ridge Runner]

Cool! Someone else with a first gen. K5.

Hey, Larry, recognize you from 67-72.

 

[dorton]

I had been driving it basically daily since I got it back on the road. The fuel gauge had stopped working since my first fill up, so I decided to replace the sending unit. I dropped the tank, and found the old unit's resistor was fine, but the float was logged so I swapped the float from a newer sending unit. Upon inspection of the fuel tank, I found more rust than I was comfortable with, so I
ordered a new fuel tank. I have received it, but the filler neck does not match my old one. I have since found this is a fairly common issue after cruising over at 67-72ct.com.

After doing a lot of thinking about building this one up, I had been thinking of keeping it basically stock, and building up something different. I think things always happen for a reason, and I don't think its too much of a coincidence that a friend I sold a 1st gen Toyota 4runner to called me the other night to see if I'd want to buy it back. It's got more miles than it did, doesn't look as good as it did, and at a little over 300k miles the head gasket just popped, but I sure do miss that ride.

I will know tonight if the 4runner will be the horse I ride next year when I go on vacation.

 

[Larry]

Dorton,

Yeah, there you go! Keep that survivor K5 the way it is and build up the 4Runner for your outdoor adventure needs. Both are great vehicles but the old K5 is too clean to modify.